As the functionality of personal computers begins to converge with that of consumer electronics, personal computers are beginning to be used in place of traditional consumer electronic devices. For example, a personal computer may be connected to home entertainment components including a television, speakers, stereo receiver, and set-top box to perform the functions traditionally associated with specialized consumer electronics such as DVD and CD players, digital video recorders, stereo components, and the like.
Consumers often expect little or no noticeable noise from consumer electronic devices when such devices are in operation. For personal computers, on the other hand, consumers have come to expect significant noise, particularly as the personal computers perform certain operations.
Most of the new optical drives installed on personal computers are capable of performing data transfer at speeds that far exceed those capable by consumer electronic devices. For example, a personal computer's CD drive may read data on a CD 40 times or faster than the speed that a consumer electronics CD player does. Similarly, a personal computer's DVD drive may read data from a DVD at 8 times or faster than a consumer electronics DVD player. These faster transfer rates are accomplished by turning the media faster. Upon inserting media into a personal computer's optical drive, the drive may spin up to its maximum speed to read the data off the media. When doing so, the drive may create a high volume of noise due to the mechanics and physics of the drive.
What is needed is a method and system of decreasing the noise produced by optical drives of personal computers. Ideally, such a method and system would not suffer in performance when reading data files not normally contained on consumer electronics media.